The Person's Picture Book
by misguided.perfection
Summary: Set in Marauder era Hogwarts, a story of reflections, of a dog, and of a girl. M for later chapters.  events told first by Sirius, then Alaya
1. 1 Of Green Eyes and Distractions

**.Sirius.**

"The Person's picture book is made up of memories and colors." She told him. "That's what makes it so different from a child's. As you grow up, the pictures change. And they're less like pictures, more like mirrors."

It isn't often that he takes the time to reminisce back on… any part of his life, really. But before the commotion that day in the great hall, that's what he was doing, much like he is now. Only now there will be no dramatic exits to distract him from the mess that has become his life, no crackle of electricity from across the great hall, no eyes burning with so many emotions it made his head spin as they met, not for the first time, no spark passing between two people, no new fiery pull to follow the enemy from the room.

There is no repeating the past. And in his remembering, he finds it hard to come to terms with that.

`~`~`~`  
Brushing a piece of dark hair out of his eyes, Sirius scanned the hall for something interesting to do, or speak about. He found a giant total of zero conversation worthy topics. He was getting bored. He thought for a brief moment about how horrible things tended to end when he got bored, but then dismissed the thought entirely. He looked around again before his eyes fell on the boy seated across from him, a tall, too skinny boy with messy hair and glasses that were perpetually falling down his nose.

"Oi. James." He whispered softly, trying to keep his volume down. "James." Louder this time, and still the other boy didn't stir. Sirius followed his eyes and sighed loudly when he found them resting on Lily Evans, a pretty girl with long red hair and almond eyes, again. Of course he's staring. What else does he do? He thought and tried again. "Prongs? James? Prongsy? Oooooooh Jaaaaaaaaaaaames."

Louder each time, until Moony murmured beside him, head not raised from his book, "He won't pay any attention, you know that, not when he's staring at her. And besides. You only want to speak to him about the dung bombs. Couldn't that wait till after lunch?"

"Of course not. See it was only about the dung bombs. Now it's personal." He didn't add the bit about boredom, not wanting to offend his friend. Remus was rather lacking in conversation now that a new bookstore had opened in Hogsmeade, and Peter had wound up in the hospital after a bad potions accident the day before. Moony sighed and shook his head, nose still buried in the spine of his latest paperback.

"JAMES!" Sirius yelled, slamming the table in front of his best mate and laughing in a satisfied sort of way when James jumped about a foot off the bench and cried, "WHAT?"

"That's the third time this week I've caught you staring. When are you planning on asking again?"

James blushed furiously before painting an indignant look on his face. "I don't know what it is you mean, dear Padfoot."

"Asking you know who on a date. You remember what those are, don't you? You plus some (preferably pretty) bird out together. Alone. Not with your friends. Not that it would matter if you were with your friends, because you're already IGNORING them again." Sirius said in answer, sighing exasperatedly when he noticed James had stopped paying attention and resumed staring at the Evans girl.

"It really is no use." Remus still wasn't looking up. "He always does this. He goes through phases. If I thought I could make a time of the month joke without being called a hypocrite I'd-"

The noise that came next was enough, not only to stop Moony mid sentence, but to raise his eyes from the passage they had been perusing.

A crash from the Slytherin table, and a long shrieking of metal against metal caught everyone's attention in an instant.

"Say it again, Regulus." The great hall had gone silent, and all Sirius saw was the girl pinning his much hated brother down on the table with her wand at his neck. She had long dark hair that flew messily about her face, seeming to crackle with electricity. Her robes were slightly mussed, and she was shaking, but her face was set in a look of cold determination as she leaned back slightly from Regulus and said, "See? He's not so brave with a wand at his throat now is he? Even with his well within reach. Say it again, Black."

Moony whispered to Sirius, "Enjoy it while it lasts, Dumbledore's coming to his rescue now."

Sirius glanced at the teachers table and, sure enough, the seeming spell had at least broken for their headmaster, who was striding purposefully towards the Slytherin table.

"This ought to end well." He replied, eyes flitting back to the girl.

"And quickly." But Moony's reply was lost as Dumbledore reached the girl.

"Let him go." His voice was low, but not so low that Sirius could not hear.

She shook her head. "Not until he says it."

Sirius knew this play. She'd taunt him until he repeated it, whatever it was. Then when he did, she'd curse him for sure.

"Miss McAllistar. I must insist you let him go."

"He deserves what he gets."

"Miss McAllistar!"

His voice was sharp as she turned on him, and there was an honest to Merlin spark in her hair as she stared down the headmaster, sizing him up, anger and magic palpable in the thick air that was the Great Hall. She lowered her wand, but her eyes were still meeting Dumbledore's. She was not shrinking back from this one, not looking for a way out of punishment.

On the contrary, she stepped down from where she was standing on the bench and said, "He deserved more than what he got. He's lucky you came over. I'll meet you in your office, Sir."

She strode out of the Hall angrily, head held high, electricity still visible in it, and as she did, her eyes met Sirius', and he found himself shocked at their color, a green so dark and at the same time so bright that he swore it was hypnotizing. He inhaled softly, but to quickly, and she let out a quiet but wild laugh before reaching the doors, swinging them open, and leaving the Hall in two seconds of silence before a hushed roar began.

"Who was that?" He asked no one in particular, and as James muttered that he had no idea, Remus supplied,

"She's new. This year, actually. From what I understand she's American originally. Muggle dad."

"What the hell's she doing in Slytherin then?" Asked James.

"Didn't you hear what she said? Told Dumbledore straight out that she'd have cursed my brother had she gotten the chance. Now while I wouldn't blame her for her target, it takes a lot of something to act like that towards our Head."

"A lot of stupidity. Which only proves that she doesn't belong in Ravenclaw." James answered. This earned a laugh from Remus, and Sirius smiled as the Great Hall returned to its normal self, laughing along with the jokes and plans his friends made, but all he could think about for the rest of the day was that girl, and the color of her eyes as she laughed at him.


	2. The Important Thing

_**.Alaya.**_

**The important thing is **_(he's beautiful, broken, free__)__** taking care of **_**yourself**.

When she first saw him, it was at supper. On a second thought, a look back, she supposes he looks more like his brother than anything, but at first she didn't notice. She noticed nothing but his eyes _bright, grayish blue,_ and the way his smile crinkled the corners of them, shining like a beacon towards her, even though he was looking at the boy _(james)_ across from him.  
She was drawn to him, curious and maybe a little bit... _interested_.  
Interested, but... not in that way. She knew better than that, especially at this new school, a school that was so much more _divided_ than the one she'd come from, or at least, the division here presented itself more drastically.  
He was beautiful then, and free in his laughter, and as she watched him over the next few days, she noticed that that freedom was a recurring theme. Everything he did, he did for himself, or out of a personal desire to help a friend. He was brilliant, and beautiful, and witty, and precious and there it was again, ever present, that _freedom_. It would have been so easy to fall for him, and she saw other girls do so, watched as they'd swoon and giggle and stare longingly through thick lashes, and she saw him pass through more than one in the span of a week. It would have been _so easy_ to fall, and she almost approached him, but then there was Lucius.  
The kind, polite Lucius, and Bellatrix, beautiful, hilarious Bellatrix, both of them Slytherin, _like her_ both of them slightly older and pureblood, and so so **powerful**, and they took her in, under their wings, and quickly, _so quickly_, she was one of them, and her status never questioned, and there was no one to attack her, and she was _princess_ under Bella's _queen_, and it was known through their whole house.  
And the beautiful, free boy with the dark hair and the blue _gray blue like clouds_ eyes was forgotten, and everything was right again.  
Lucius was the first to tell her he knew. Someone had seen the records and it was spreading like wildfire through the houses, making its way to their own, how the new Slytherin royalty was nothing but a _mudblood_ impostor.  
His eyes met hers, and she almost cried, but thought better of it, kept her control, as he asked her if it was true. Defiant and angry enough to cover her fear she nodded swiftly and he arched an eyebrow before sighing and leaning against the wall in the corridor next to her.  
"Whatever shall we do with you, Pet?" He had asked her calmly, more stress on his face then his young years should have allowed. Silence echoed around them as he thought.  
"I can take care of myself, you know." She almost whispered, voice low but steady.  
There was a long silence before he stated, "And so you shall. Bella and I will be there for you, of course, but you will have to prove yourself worthy."  
"Worthy?"  
"We all know how handy you are with a wand, Pet. Use it to your advantage. Show them you aren't to be messed with, and you won't be."  
"Oh yes, and you'll all think it so sporting, lets watch the mud blood play her silly games with her wand waving it like she deserves it, showing off like she's one of us when-"  
"Stop that." He has slapped her then, enough to silence her raising voice. She gasped but said nothing else, _frightened of the Malfoy, Laya? _instead entreating him to go on. "You'll act as if you deserve it. You'll go about business as usual. You will not address the issue unless someone brings it up to you, and then you will not encourage of deny the rumors, you will answer with your wand. You're already notoriously trigger happy, it shouldn't be too hard for you. You will answer with your wand, do you hear me?"  
"I hear you, Lucius, but honestly. What do I get out of this?"He smirked at her then, in an infuriating way that said he knew so much more than she.  
"If you're lucky, and if you're very, very good, more than you could possibly dream."  
So she did what he said, which is what she would have done anyway, really. And no one could know for sure, and she and Lucius swore to everyone else that it was all lies, and everything was fine and quiet again until Regulus stuck his nose where it didn't belong (_and really, if the one was that much trouble, could his brother be any different?)_.  
He said it, and Lucius held her back even though he had told her what to do, and she simmered angrily at the table.  
And she simmered and simmered until she boiled and then she was gone, up from her seat, and Bella was laughing loudly and cheering as Lucius scolded them all for acting irrationally, and her wand was at Regulus' throat, and she knew the curse, _knew the curse, and do it, just do it, just- _"**SAY IT**!" She said, voice quivering, but wand steady. "Say it again, Regulus." Say that filthy word that talks so badly _so accurately _of my filthy blood so I can be justified when I make you hurt as much as you're trying to hurt me. "See? He's not so brave with a wand at his throat now is he? Even with his well within reach. Say it **again**, Black."  
The Headmaster talked her down, she remembers, but vaguely. He demanded she stop, but she offered no apologizes.  
"Not until he says it," she said. _Not until I make him pay. _"He deserves what he gets."  
But somewhere along the line, Lucius nudged her towards the Headmaster, and without taking her eyes from Regulus she hopped down from her place above him on the table. On her way out the door of the Great Hall, **his **eyes, the ones like clouds, met hers and he gasped a little at her boldness. She let loose a laugh that she hoped to Gods made Bellatrix proud and proceeded out the door, ignoring the now lonely looking boy and his beautiful, free eyes, and thinking how if one brother was that bad, surely the other one wasn't worth her trouble either.


End file.
